1. The address of the Masons of Lodge 22, dated c.28 Mar., which appears in its entirety in CD-ROM:GW, includes these words: “Under the supreme architect of the Universe You have been the Master Workman in erecting the Temple of Liberty in the west, on the broad basis of equal rights—In your wise administration of the Government of the United States for the Space of eight Years, You have Kept within the Compass of our happy constitution and acted on the square with foreign Nations and thereby preserved Your Country in peace and promoted the prosperity and happyness of your fellow citizens . . .” (DLC:GW). The meeting and dinner took place in Alexandria on 1 April, when the above address was read by Gillis (Brockett, Lodge of Washington, description begins F. L. Brockett. The Lodge of Washington. A History of the Alexandria Washington Lodge, No. 22, A.F. and A.M. of Alexandria, Va., 1783-1876. Alexandria, Va., 1876. description ends 54).

GW’s reply of 1 April reads: “While my heart acknowledges with Brotherly Love, your affectionate congratulations on my retirement from the arduous toils of past years, my gratitude is no less excited by your Kind wishes for my future happiness. If it has pleased the supreme architect of the Universe to make me an humble instrument to promote the welfare and happiness of my fellow men, my exertions have been abundantly recompensed by the Kind partiality with which they have been received; and the assurance you give me of your belief that I have acted upon the square in my public Capacity, will be among my principles enjoyments in this Terrestial Lodge. G. Washington” (LB, DLC:GW; Df, DLC:GW). Dennis Ramsay (1756–1810) of Alexandria, son of GW’s friend William Ramsay (d. 1785), was an active Mason and served as a pallbearer at GW’s funeral. Philip G. Marsteller (d. 1842), the son of GW’s commission agent in Alexandria in the 1780s, Philip Marsteller (d. 1804), was a merchant in Alexandria.